Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams is set to undertake her third space mission alongside Butch Wilmore as they prepare to launch aboard National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (Nasa) Boeing crew flight test to the International Space Station (ISS) scheduled for May 6.
The astronauts are scheduled to launch aboard Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Upon reaching the orbiting laboratory, they will dock and remain there for approximately a week, according to a report in The Indian Express (IE).
As part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Programme, this mission marks the inaugural crewed voyage for the Starliner spacecraft. It aims to comprehensively evaluate the spacecraft’s capabilities, from launch to docking, and conclude with its return to Earth in the western United States. Upon a successful crewed flight test, Nasa will initiate the final stages of certifying Starliner and its systems for future crewed missions to the space station.
Chosen by Nasa as an astronaut in 1998, Sunita Williams boasts a seasoned career with two previous space missions under her belt — Expeditions 14/15 and 32/33, the IE reported.
Expedition 14/15 lasted from December 9, 2006 till June 22, 2007. During Expedition 14, Sunita Williams fulfilled the role of flight engineer. She transitioned to the Expedition 15 crew, concluding her mission and returning to Earth alongside the STS-117 crew, landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
According to the IE report, during her time aboard, Sunita Williams set a milestone for female astronauts, conducting four spacewalks that amounted to 29 hours and 17 minutes. However, her record was surpassed in 2008 by Astronaut Peggy Whitson, who completed a total of five spacewalks. Williams also participated in an extended mission, serving as the flight engineer for Expedition 32 and assuming the role of International Space Station Departing from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 14, 2012, alongside Russian Soyuz commander Yuri Malenchenko and Flight Engineer Akihiko Hoshide of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sunita Williams embarked on her journey. Spending four months engaged in research and exploration aboard the orbiting laboratory, she returned to Earth on November 18, 2012, after a 127-day stay in space.
Throughout their expedition, Sunita Williams and Hoshide conducted three spacewalks aimed at replacing a component responsible for relaying power from the space station’s solar arrays to its systems and repairing an ammonia leak on a station radiator, the IE report stated.
She has spent a total of 322 days in space over the course of her two missions. Sunita Williams regained the title for the female astronaut with the highest total cumulative spacewalk time, logging 50 hours and 40 minutes. However, this record was subsequently surpassed by Whitson, who completed a total of 10 spacewalks.
Sunita Williams, originally from Needham, Massachusetts, was born in Ohio to Deepak Pandya, a Mumbai Indian-American neuroanatomist, and Bonnie (Zalokar) Pandya, of Slovene-American descent. Her father’s roots trace back to Jhulasan in the Mehsana district of Gujarat, India, while her mother’s ancestry is Slovene.
Sunita Williams graduated from the Needham High School in 1983. Following that, she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physical science from the United States Naval Academy in 1987, and later obtained a Master of Science degree in engineering management from Florida Institute of Technology in 1995.
